Croats an Obstacle to the Creation of the new Bosnian Nation
Marko Vidic
Slobodna Dalmacija, Split, Croatia, April 28 1998
Who are and what do these "Bosnian Croats" want so that they are now in conflict with everyone: with the International Community, with "Bosnian Serbs", with Bosniaks? How come the international factors always find an excuse for the actions and policies of the other two peoples and almost never for the Croats. Under attack are expelled Croats, the returning Croat refugees, their Cardinal, their Catholic church, their politicians, the largest political party which represents them... Therefore, the target of the attack is the Croat people in Bosnia-Hercegovina. Those who do not understand that after an attempted collective lynch of the believers and priests in Derventa and brutal occupation of Croats from 47 Bosnian municipalities in Drvar by SFOR, must be politically blind.
Showdown with Croats
Both events had been prepared for a long time. The big difference between them is that the International Community was much more responsible for the popular uprising in Drvar. What happened to Croats in Derventa and all over Bosnia in 1992 is also the consequence of the acquiescence of the International Community with Serb plans, and what is happening in Drvar today is also in agreement with the Serb and International Community plans for this region. Drvar was chosen by the International planners to continuously provide evidence that Croats are not cooperating, in order to exert pressure on Croats and Croatia, and at the same time deflect attention from the actions of Serbs in the Republic of Srpska. Whatever Croats do in Drvar, no matter how conciliatory and cooperative the Croatian policy is, the pressure will increase because the goal is not only to bring Serbs back to Drvar but moreover, to hurt Croats as people, to provoke reactions which happened in Drvar and then to force Croats to withdraw from that territory.
On the other hand,where in the whole of Bosnia-Hercegovina is there a conflict between Serbs and Muslims, Serbs and International factors, between Muslims and International factors? Nowhere! Everywhere, there is a true idyll and if it wasn't for these Croats everything would have been in order. As if there are no expelled Muslims from eastern Bosnia and as if there is no Serb resistance to their return; as if the return of Croats and Muslims to the Republic of Srpska is going without problems; in general, as if the Brcko problem has been solved; as if the February conference about the return of Croats and Serbs to Sarajevo didn't totally fail; as if the Serbs and Muslims didn't practically reject all the conclusions from the Bonn conference; as if... As if there was an agreement of all to now take care of Croats as the least numerous people, and probably the least powerful, and then go back to mutual clashes.
If someone rejects every idea regarding the refining of the existing agreement which they at the same time do not want to implement and respect, asserting that the agreement cannot be modified, than it is absolutely clear that some other agreements are being implemented in practice. If the top Muslim circles reject the idea of demilitarization, reject the idea of thorough cantonization of the Federation etc. then obviously the current political processes must be in their interest. Besides, one can hear from those circles that they enjoy the support of the International Community. Support for what?
Reduced Jurisdiction for Entities
The other indications of this trend are the comparisons of Croats with African tribes, the reduction of Croats to "Bosnian Croats", an attempt to eradicate from their life and consciousness national symbols, tradition and language, to destroy their identity, an imposition of election rules favoring those political options favored by the International Community, founding and financial assistance to new political parties whose loyalties lie with the International Community instead of the voters etc. These forces not only want to direct the future of Croats, but also their history. Namely, Carlos Westendorp and British ambassador Charles Craford, as well as [the American ambassador] William Montgomery before them, when talking about the sins of Croats in Bosnia-Hercegovina believe that a new, Bosnian nation should be forged and that, especially Croats should give up their national attributes and traditions. Shouldn't it then be expected that Muslim politicians support such tendencies and are not seeking any changes. Why should they when their goals are the abolishment of ethnic identities, the development of a civic state and the reduced jurisdiction for entities.
With the desire to forge one, Bosnian (naturally as envisaged and in interest of the most numerous nation and the International Community) nation from the existing three, the International factors actually indirectly but very clearly underlines the importance of nations for the development and functioning of states. They understand that Bosnia-Hercegovina cannot function as a state if in it there are three nations with three different ideas regarding whether Bosnia-Hercegovina should exist and what kind of a state it should be. Because of that they insist on centralization of state bodies and the formation of the Bosnian nation. In all that it wouldn't be just to single out Jacques Paul Klein whose statements are not always appropriate but there cannot be doubt in his good intentions and his understanding of the situation in Bosnia-Hercegovina.
Campaign Against Cardinal
Some so called Croat intellectuals from Sarajevo, who had long time ago said everything worst about HDZ and its officials, Franjo Tudman, Croatian policy in general, also participate in that psychological, political, media and military campaign against the Croats in Bosnia-Hercegovina; recently they have joined a significant number of those who claim that the Catholic church shares responsibility for the war and for the present difficult situation. Thus, they describe Cardinal Vinko Puljic as a supporter of HDZ which in their propaganda means that he is an extremist, Ustasha and is trying to destroy Bosnia-Hercegovina as a state. Such campaign is producing a general atmosphere conducive for the lynch of the Cardinal and priests. If tomorrow someone attacks Cardinal Puljic in Plehan, Banja Luka or Guca Gora, he won't attack the Cardinal but an Ustasha. The same Cardinal who was celebrated during the siege of Sarajevo is today discredited and maligned in all possible ways. The Cardinal hasn't changed: he still promotes faith, love, understanding, tolerance, cares for his parishioners, points out the dangers and protests against injustice, fights for the identity of the nation to which he belongs. But the situation has changed and his turn for execution has come.
Stubborn and forceful rejection of the least numerous nation in Bosnia-Hercegovina, Croats, to become a part of a new nation and state is the main reason for such behavior of the world towards them. However, Croats care more about the preservation of their national identity than about the new state and nation. The pressures by the International Community will go on. They may result in new reactions of the people similar to that in Drvar. Another consequence will be total homogenization of Croats, and the plan for the overthrow of HDZ will backfire. No factions nor the struggle for power within HDZ can annul the effects of pressures on the people which aim to take away its identity, constitutional character and sovereignty within Bosnia-Hercegovina; and the people see in HDZ the guarantee for effective resistance to that. Therefore, once the International Community realizes futility of its violent anti-democratic actions, it can be expected that they will give up anti-Dayton which is the present practice and turn to that which is called mini-Dayton, namely the real problems in Bosnia-Hercegovina.
Translated on 8/10/98
